Timeline: Key events in Michael Brewer case

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Oct. 11:Michael Brewer, a 15-year-old Deerfield Beach Middle School seventh-grader, had borrowed $40 from Matthew Bent, 15, to buy a video game. Investigators say he never paid it back. In return, Bent tries to steal a custom, $500 bike belonging to Brewer's father, according to authorities. Brewer calls police, and Bent is arrested as he tries to run off with the bike.

Oct. 12: Brewer and Bent do not go to school. About 3 p.m., Bent meets with four friends: brothers Denver and Jeremy Jarvis, 15 and 13 respectively; Steven Shelton, 15; and Jesus Mendez, 15, who later turned 16. Near a wall by the Lime Tree Apartments in Deerfield Beach, the boys find a bottle of rubbing alcohol. They enter the complex's pool area and see Brewer, who is waiting for a friend. Brewer tries to walk away. Bent orders Denver Jarvis to pour the alcohol on Brewer, authorities say. Mendez allegedly takes a lighter from his pocket and flicks it at the drenched teen. Brewer suffers burns on over 75 percent of his body, especially on his torso and arms.

Oct. 13: The Jarvis brothers; Mendez; Sheldon, and Bent are taken into custody.

Nov. 10: Bent, Denver Jarvis, and Mendez are charged as adults with second-degree attempted murder. Prosecutors decline to file charges against Jeremy Jarvis, and Shelton. Bent's mother, Cheri Bent, speaks publicly for the first time, saying her family is remorseful for the attack.

Nov. 11: Brewer's ventilator is removed and he makes a hoarse, raspy request of the nurses: He asks for a dollar so he can buy french fries and a milkshake.

Nov. 23: Brewer speaks to investigators in his hospital room and provides his account of the attack.

Nov. 24: Jeremy Jarvis makes his first public statement, reading from a short note in front of his lawyer's Fort Lauderdale office. He says there was no plan to set Brewer on fire. He expresses sympathy for Brewer, but he doesn't explain the attack.

Dec.4: Brewer undergoes a second skin graft.

Dec. 14: Sherry Jarvis, the mother of the Jarvis brothers, appears on the Today show, appealing to prosecutors to be lenient with her son, Denver Jarvis. She says he is too young to be imprisoned for 30 years.

Dec. 17: Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen approves a request by Bent's lawyer to see messages sent by the younger brother of Mendez. Both Mendez brothers were present at the attack.

2010

Jan. 3: Brewer is admitted into Holtz Children's Hospital and listed in serious condition in its pediatric intensive care with respiratory problems that flared up during the holidays.

Jan. 5: Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen turns down a defense motion calling on him to step aside in the case because of a letter his assistant wrote in reply to a Florida resident who referred to the defendants as "heinous hooligans" who should be lit on fire as punishment.